Oblivious Connection, A Barn Owl's story
by Nyroc-Ember
Summary: Tyruth is a Barn Owl, raised at the Great Ga'Hoole tree. He thinks his fortune can't get any worse. But he doesn't know that his story is full of love, respect, and trust. He meets a strange owl named Mascare and his whole life changes. Even though Mascare is of the Pure Ones, her and Tyruth's bond is strong; they have a Oblivious Connection to eachother.
1. Chapter 1

Tyruth blinked open his opal-black eyes. It was in the middle of the day.

_Ugh! I have to stop doing this!_

He felt especially panicked, because today he was to be tapped. Or maybe he already was! He longed to peek, but that would be cheating. He sighed, his gaze flickering to Blythe and Sebastiana. _I wonder what they're going to be tapped for, _He thought. _Either one of them would be a wonderful chawmate._

He bent down and adjusted the moss on the nest, and snuggled down into it, making a soft purring sound. He rolled onto his back, exposing his white speckled belly.

"Tyruth! Wake up!" Blythe was shoving him softly with her right talon.

"Huh? What." His eyes flicked slightly and he rolled over in annoyance, his back facing Blythe.

"We're tapped!"

His eyes instantly opened, but he groaned and squinted them from the light of the moon. He got up, shaking the moss off his wings and fixing his ruffled feathers. Blythe had a dried-up caterpillar in her left talon, eyeing it with wonder. Tyruth shivered at the sight of it.

"I'm in Weather Interpretation!" Blythe was churring was happiness. "Not what I wanted, but it could be worse." Tyruth blinked. _She's lucky._

Sebastiana had her beak buried in her nest. "Ah-ha!" She pulled out a molted feather, dropping it and letting out a cheerful squeak. "Search-and-Rescue!" She exclaimed. "Cool!"

Tyruth was scared to look at what he got. Sebastiana nudged him. "Go ahead. I'm sure it won't be bad." She smiled at him when he glanced at her quickly. Blythe stomped her talons softly in excitement when Tyruth bent down hesitantly and buried his beak in his nest and tried to find a object to do with tapping. He felt something soft touch his beak and he picked it up, ripping it from the nest with his eyes closed. He heard Sebastiana gasp and spread her wings in surprise. "We're chawmates!"

Tyruth's gizzard lurched. In his beak was a molted feather. His gizzard should have leaped with joy, but it dropped to his talons. "Search-and-Rescue?" He managed to spit out.

"Aren't you happy?" Sebastiana asked, folding her tawny wings.

Tyruth dropped his wings and shrugged. "It's not really what I wanted."

Blythe walked over to him, her eyes flashing blue in the moonlight. She extended her dark wing and patted him on the back. "You'll love it. It includes flying. I know how you love flying. And imagine all the places you could go to save little owlets. You could even go to the Northern Kingdoms!"

Tyruth supposed she was right. He liked flying. And the thought of seeing new kingdoms make his gizzard quiver with anticipation.

Sebastiana's tail feathers ruffled in excitement. "Let's go tell Ma, Blythe!" She hopped out of the hollow, heading for her parents' hollow. Blythe followed, grinning at him in innocence as she walked away. Tyruth sighed. He was an orphan, as he was recued when there was a fire in Tyto. He didn't remember his parents, because he was alone at an early age, but he could almost picture them. Maybe his Ma was as beautiful as a rose, and his Da was brave and strong and had a large extra feather on his head like him. Tyruth certainly didn't look like the other Barn Owls. At least, not like Soren and the others. Soren was more of an orange color, the same as Sebastiana. Pellimore had a pink tint to her feathers, which were light brown, making her seem gentle and motherly. Blythe was darker than all of them, her feathers mainly of dark brown.

Tyruth scraped the ground with his talon, his eyes flashing. If only his parents were here to see him when he was an expert at tracking down little owlets and rescuing them. He heard the clink of talons on the tree, recognizing Blythe and Sebastiana. He plopped down on his nest, sending feathers flying. _This is going to be a nightmare._


	2. Chapter 2

Sebastiana and Tyruth walked their way over to where their first chaw practice was to be. Tyruth looked around him, taking in all the beauty of the Tree at night. The stars and constellations gleamed in the sky, reflecting in his black eyes.

He barely noticed when he heard Soren's voice lecturing more members of many of the chaws as they got closer. When they turned the corner, they saw Soren perched on a thin branch jutting out of the Tree. Many young owls were gathered around him. Tyruth recognized Blythe and Bell, Sebastiana's other sisters. He stretched out his wing to wave, and they waved back. Sebastiana glanced at him, her opal eyes wide. Tyruth churred, and she eagerly ran over to her sisters to greet them.

Tyruth cheekily walked over to the crowd to stand by a pretty Burrowing Owl and another big, buff looking Burrowing Owl. Soren was waving his wing over the crowd, and he said, "A gizzard is where you feel all of your biggest emotions."

_Like we don't know, _Tyruth thought bitterly.

The pretty Burrowing Owl turned her head around, her amber eyes piercing him. She smiled a little. "It's boring you, isn't it?"

Tyruth nodded. "I'd rather be out flying than listening to his babbling." He puffed out his chest feathers.

The Burrowing Owl churred. "Same here, even though I'm a terrible flier." She rolled her eyes. "I guess that's why I'm in Tracking." She paused. "I'm Siv, by the way."

"Siv? As in Queen Siv?" He had overhead the tales of Hoole when he was sleeping close to Pellimore and Bell.

Siv nodded. "I was named after her."

"Oh, and I'm Tyruth." Tyruth said. Siv smiled.

When she was about to reply, the big Burrowing Owl stepped close behind Siv, his amber eyes glaring at him. He spoke in a deep, dangerous voice. "Who is this, Siv?"

Siv frowned at him. "This is Tyruth." More defiantly, she added, "Stop being so overprotective of me. We're not owlets anymore, I'll have you know."

The Burrowing Owl gave Tyruth a narrowed glare, slowly turned his gaze back to Siv. "Okay, whatever, sis."

Siv rolled her eyes as her brother walked away. "Brothers." She sighed. "Sometimes I think I could have a better brother than Bruno."

"He seems nice," Tyruth half-lied. Bruno was a nice brother, protecting Siv like that, but he didn't seem like he'd want to be friends with Tyruth.

"Don't wish for a brother." Siv churred. "They're annoying." She smiled, but then perked her head up suddenly as she heard her name being called. "Oops, gotta go." She sighed. "See you later, okay?"

Tyruth nodded with a smile as she raced away. _I like her. She seems like a good friend, being a small owl and all._

He only realized then that Soren had stopped talking, and the group was breaking away. _Oh no! I was too busy talking to Siv that I didn't listen to the lesson._ He groaned.

Blythe and Sebastiana were hopping towards him, their feathers slightly ruffled in excitement. _It must've been an exciting story about gizzards, _he thought sarcastically, emphasizing the word "gizzard". Blythe was the first to walk up to him, her eyes gleaming. "Wasn't that cool, Tyruth? The story of the owl that got its gizzard ripped out was awesome!"

"Uh… yeah, cool." He looked away nervously.

Sebastiana shivered. "And scary." She turned to Tyruth. "Who was that Burrowing Owl you were talking to?"

Tyruth blinked. "Her name was Siv."

Blythe cocked her head. "Siv? As in Queen Siv?"

He nodded and churred. "She seems nice. Her brother, too."

Sebastiana puffed out her chest. "She didn't seem all that nice to me."

Blythe eyed him suspiciously. "You _like_ her!" She smiled a little.

Tyruth's gizzard lurched. His face turned red in embarrassment. "I do not!" He squawked. Both Blythe and Sebastiana were snickering. "Really! She's two times smaller than me!" He demonstrated with his wing, holding it flat against his chest.

"Doesn't matter." Sebastiana said. "You two would have little Burrowing-Barn Owls!"

Tyruth felt himself wilf a little. He could imagine how ugly Burrowing-Barn owls would be.

Blythe grinned at Sebastiana. "_You_ want to have Burrowing-Barn Owls with Tyruth!" She crowed.

Sebastiana growled. "Not true. And besides, that's not even _possible_!" She squawked.

Blythe snickered. "You two are the cutest couple!" She shoved Sebastiana from behind, making hers and Tyruth's faces close together. Sebastiana tried to bat Blythe away with her talon, but missed. Tyruth backed away a little, and Sebastiana blushed fiercely and shrank away. Blythe lightly churred.

Tyruth gave Blythe a black glare. "Let's go back to the hollow." He said, in kind of a demanding voice. _I don't know why she's accusing Sebastiana. She has never shown a sign of liking me. _He walked ahead of the two female Barn Owls, hearing Blythe trying to make Sebastiana confess, but he didn't listen. _I was right. This is a complete nightmare!_


	3. Chapter 3

It was the middle of the day when Tyruth woke up. He groaned. _This is a really bad habit. I really shouldn't be waking up this time of day._ He knew it would be hard to fall asleep again, so he got up grudgingly, pecking down his ruffled feathers. He stepped forward and lightly opened his wings, flapping into the air onto his perch just in front of the window-like hole in the hollow. The golden light pierced his eyes and turned his nest orange, making it dark again when Tyruth stepped in front of the light.

Blythe and Sebastiana were sleeping soundly, Blythe on her back with her wings spread and her beak wide open in a snore. Sebastiana was huddled together by her wings, occasionally rolling over once or twice.

Tyruth stared out of the window, screwing his face up to get used to the sun. He saw, just barely, a forest—fog covered the air above the sea, blocking out the view. But Tyruth thought he could see a forest, just barely. Did he see a glint of orange on the trees? Like… Fire? When he squinted, he saw something peculiar flying in the air, a bird, he thought. Then he recognized them. Owls. Owls were flying towards the Tree. His gizzard lurched. He had to tell Soren!

His opal eyes wide, he silently hurried out of the hollow, accidently almost tripping over Sebastiana. As he hurried away, she peeked open her eyes, narrowing them as she saw him hurry over to her parents' hollow. She stirred, rising from her nest and sneaking out to spy on him.

"Soren!" Tyruth hissed in a whisper. Soren blinked open his eyes, careful not to disturb Pellimore.

"What is it?" He asked, turning his head around to look at Tyruth.

Tyruth shifted uncomfortably. "I saw owls." He said. "Coming to the Great Tree. I didn't recognize them."

Soren grunted softly and stood up, patting Bell to sleep when she stirred. "Okay. I'll see to them."

The two Barn Owls walked to the main part of the tree. Sure enough, two tall owls he'd never seen were perched on a skinny branch, their beady eyes full of fear.

Soren didn't seem to know them, either. "Hello, gentlemen." He said. "What can I do for you?"

One of the owls, a sooty-colored white speckled owl spoke. "We have a problem." Tyruth stared at him. He looked more like a falcon than an owl, but he was definitely an owl.

Soren raised an eyebrow. "What problem?" he asked.

The other owl, a brown owl with long tufts coming from its beak, spoke. "There's a fire in Tyto."

Soren felt himself wilf a little. "Tyto? Are you sure it's a fire? How big is it?"

The strange gray owl replied. "It's not a huge fire. But it's burning down trees and nests. We thought we could come tell you right away."

Soren nodded. "May I ask you your names?"

The gray owl nodded. "I'm Ashbeak, a Barking Owl." He demonstrated with a quiet squawk that sounded like a bark. The other owl with long tufts spread his wings and bowed. "I'm Silas, a Crested Owl." He said.

Soren and Tyruth had never heard of those kind of owls, but they bowed mannerly. "I am Soren, king of the Tree. And this is Tyruth, the one who saw you coming."

Silas's magenta eyes stared down at him. "Nice job seeing us and alerting the king." He said sincerely. Ashbeak nodded.

Sebastiana was watching, her eyes narrowed. _So now Tyruth gets all the gratitude?_

Soren churred. "I'll get the chaws right away to send after you."

_ChawS? _Sebastiana thought.

Soren led the two male owls away to the parliament, leaving Tyruth alone. The sun was about to set by the time he headed back, turning everything pink tinted. As he walked back, Sebastiana stepped out to glare at him. "Well?" She demanded.

Tyruth blinked. "Well what?" He asked, surprised she was there.

Sebastiana frowned. "Why couldn't you wake me up for the excitement?" She spat. Glancing carelessly over her shoulder, she added, "Soren's my father."

Tyruth bristled. "Just because he's your father doesn't mean you're royalty!"

Sebastiana scowled. "Maybe I want to become Queen of the Tree someday."

Tyruth towered over her. "You know that won't happen."

Sebastiana matched his glare, puffing up her feathers to make her seem bigger. "What makes you think I can't?" Her black eyes flared with rage and ripped her gaze from him, stalking away, mumbling to herself.

Tyruth's anger faded away, guilt replacing it. _What just happened?_ He just had an argument with his best friend. That _never_ happened. He should have caught up with her to apologize, but he stood there, his legs shaking. _I know growing up is bad, but what could be worse than this? Sebastiana probably hates me now._


End file.
